Picnic by the Lake, Simply Lovely!

Today is a public holiday in Malaysia, our Muslim friends celebrating Hari Raya Haji, the Muslim new year, so we get to enjoy a day of leisure.

After spending morning on some long outstanding chores - like cleaning the interior of my car, clearing up the storage and discarding some old junks, we decided to bring the kids out for a picnic. It has been a while since our last picnic outing so the little ones were cheering in joy when I announced the good news. My little handsome quickly went to storeroom to get his vintage picnic bag and his favorite author hat. He sure knows his style. :)

Since it was an unplanned event, I did a real quick packing with whatever I can find the the kitchen - some cereals, pastries, packet drinks, bottled waters, cut fruits, books, the vintage picnic bag and the picnic mat, and off we go!

Anyone who lives in Kuala Lumpur would have heard of if not been to Desa Park City, the townshop surrounded by greens and modern design houses located in a well planned housing area. The large man-made lake, well maintained children playground and Aeon supermarket make it an ideal place for family, in fact it is one of the popular areas for expatrate families to settle down.

Anyway, back to the picnic. 

We actually went to do some shopping before going for picnic, as the afternoon weather in KL is really a killer. I don't want to risk getting sun burn or literally melt under the scorching sun. So we reached the park 15 minutes before 6pm, perfect weather to lay flat on the grass - pinkish skies with the setting sun, soft breeze blowing and children laughters filled the park.

Ta-da, ready to have fun.

We were just right next to the stream.

Little handsome enjoying himself with some cereals and companion of Jeff Brown's Jedi Academy, one of his favorite books.

Princess C busy running up and down the sloop like a little bunny who could not sit still. Hub and I just sat on the mat admiring our little girl who seemed to just learnt walking not long ago. She clearly loved the open space.

Unstoppable.

The stream that leads to the lake, sound of the water flowing is rather relaxing.

If you are lucky, you may catch a glimpse of the beautiful sunset from the first floor..

It was a short 45 min picnic before we adjourned to the playground to let the kids sweat it all out and we had a simple dinner at one of the restaurants within that area before calling it a night. My little handsome loved it so much that he begged for us to go there again next week. 

If there is any complain about the place, is that it's too crowded. I guess that can't be avoided as this place is just too popular with locals, and this is one of the very few dog-friendly parks in town where puppies are actually welcome.

So next time if you are meeting up friends in Desa park city, why not come earlier and bring your little ones for some picnic time? Leave the gadget behind, just have some fun in the park. :)

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

8 Back to Basic Interactive Games for Toddler

If you have been dining out recently, I believe you may have noticed that it is becoming so common that more and more parents are using iPad or smart phone to keep their little ones entertained during meal time. The little ones busy starring at the screen or playing games while the parent try to feed them. It is rather alarming how these gadgets had affected the way we interact with our kids. 

Firstly, I strongly believe to teach the little ones to self feed. It's the first step towards independency. I have seen a boy of 8 years old still need to be spoon fed, while his eyes were fixated at the screen. Unless the parents are prepared to be around to serve the kids till they reach adulthood, do train the young ones to self feed and does simple chores from young.

Secondly, while all these gadgets are super effective in keeping the little ones entertained and reframe them from disturbing the parents, do think about the long term effect. It's a one-way communication which does not encourage interaction, which is essential to help build social behavior and communication skill.  Same applies for TV program which is very much a one way communication too. Not to forget, starring at the screen at short distance for long hours may be a reason that lead to short-sighted vision.

Hence, whenever possible, I would choose to keep my little ones entertained on interactive plays and toys instead of offering them my smart phone.

Here are 8 activities that I often practiced with my little ones while we are waiting at restaurants or at home. Hope you find them helpful. 

1. Activity Books 

An ideal silent game, just let them play with sticker, spot the different, do matching or coloring. Books with colorful prints usually catch the little ones' attention.

I bought a few of these books during sales and when going out just grab one of them and chuck into my bag. Handy "kit"!

Can you spot the objects in the page?  

2. Spell the Word 

We received some wooden magnet alphabets as gift from a family friend and how my kiddos love the cute looking alphabets! While waiting for meals to be served, I challenged my little boy to spell a few words. Those without overlapping letters of course (since we only have single letter each :). I choose simple words such as dog, house, water, cake etc and only kept to 3-5 words per game before I loose his interest.

Ideal game for kindie going kids.

3. Car Racing

My duo's favorite. Pick a hot wheel each and we will have a race, on straight road, hill (use the menu!), bumpy road (use the napkin!) or cliff (use a bottle ;).

Just use a simple toy bag for the little one to carry the toy cars by themselves.

4. Memory Challenge

I usually bring along some small cards with me in my handbag, it keeps the my little girl entertained with a game of  naming the objects, or finding the matching cards.

For my elder one, I use the same sets of cards for memory game. With all cards closed, he is suppose to find the matching cards by recalling the last position. You can read more about the game here http://funwithlittleones.blogspot.com/2012/08/matching-cards-game.html

I made a pouch so it is easy to sort them in separate pockets. This makes all the cards a lot easier to handle. :)

4. Riddle, Riddle Time

At times when I forgot to bring any toys with me, my little boy and I will play random riddle. How he loves this challenge. Either he answers my riddle   or he has to come out with one. Good mind teaser, just make sure you keep your riddle to the level that your little one can understand. :)

Some examples here:

It's round, it's big;

It's hard on the outside but soft on the inside;

It wears a green suit with red inside.

What fruit is it?

It's fury, it has 4 limbs, it loves to climb from tree to tree and banana is the favourite.

What animal is it?

6. Doodling, Drawing Fun

From 18 months onwards, I let my little one learn to hold a thick crayon and doodle on a large piece of paper. I opt for non-toxic, washable crayons so it is safe in case the little ones put the crayons into the mouth, and if they accidentally (or deliberately) draw on the table or floor, it can be easily wiped off.

All the doodling, drawing and writing will keep the little ones' hands busy. Here are some of the random arts we made together.

My little boy found so much fun in Spirographing.

Or simply a game of tic-tac-toe. With pen and paper, there is lots to create.

 

After I've learnt sewing, I made a mobile Art Pad for my little ones so we can doodle anytime, anywhere. It's another proud creation of Made by PH :)

7. Nursery Rhyme Time

Most young toddler loves to sing, my baby C included. She is so familiar with all the baby nursery rhymes hence having a small nursery rhyme book in my bag is handy to keep her entertained. Can be a little noisy at the restaurant if your little one has loud voice, but it helps to keep him or her sitting still.

Songs that allow hands or body movement is most ideal, such as Inchy Wincy Spider, Wheel on the Bus, Twinkle Little Star, Humpty Dumpty, Ten Little Indians etc. I bought a small bag-size book for traveling and keep a full size one at home for bedding reading, it's one of her favorite books.

8. Finger Puppets Show time

I keep a small pouch of finger puppets, some are ready made animals bought from IKEA, some are my handmade  figurines. Just play a random puppet show, eg little animals having a Waltz dance, friends day out, etc while waiting at the restaurant, imaginary play such as this helps to train little ones' speech and creativity. 

The puppet family

The IKEA finger puppets. 

Note: All the above suggested plays are for before / after meal time or while being idle. Once food is served we will keep all the toys aside so the little ones can concentrate on eating.

That's all, sharing from a mom of two who always crack her head on creative activities with her little ones. Hope you find this post useful and do share with me and the readers should your little one too have some favorite interactive games that does not requires a smart device. ;)

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 

Fun Toy - Stack Count Push with Musical Snail Pal! 多功能小孩玩意儿介绍

If you have only RM100 budget to buy a toy for an infant under 1 year old, what will be your choice?

My personal favorite will be this - Fisher Price's Musical Snail Pail Shape Sorter.

Why, you ask? The reasons are aplenty, let me share with you...

• It encourages shape recognition and sorting skill. Which the name itself suggested what it's designed for :) the snail comes with music to attract the young toddler, we never replaced the battery after it wore off but that didn't hinder the kids' liking on this toy.
• The big, vivid color blocks makes it ideal for learning color. I guided baby C to stack the same colors or same shapes together. Took her quite a while to understand the rules but a little patient certainly pays off.
• It allows training the little ones on eye-hand coordination. Stacking up those blocks together can be quite a challenge task for the little ones and don't forget to praise when they manage to do it sng gives encouragemeny to try. My baby C was so excited when she  managed to stack all the 10 blocks up and she happily pushed the block tower down with a big "YAY".Moment right before the tower was smashed down..
• One last thing that I am pretty certain this toy was not built for - it is great for spinning around like a top, this will be fun for older toddler who has better motion control. We used these blocks as tops and spinned them around to see whose can spin the longest. Spinning, spinning, spinning...
• Not to forget, these little blocks are ideal for teaching counting from 1-10, I count along each time Baby C does the stacking, eventually she learnt to count by herself.
• Personally I like the excellent quality of this toy: the colors are lasting, it can withstand the baby's ruthless usage hence can pass down from one kid to another. This little snail pal belongs to Captain E when he was 8 months old, he had plenty of fun with it and it survived till today, still in good shape and functioning well. I am sure it can still be passed on to the next baby once Baby C grows out of it, although we have no plan for a 3rd baby at this moment. ;)

In short, this is a really all-in-one toy that allow various ways to have fun and keep the little ones occupied. It can be a little pricey but a worthy one I would say. :)


Just A Suggestion..
For hygiene reason, I gave these blocks a soap bath once every 2 weeks and sun them for about 20 minutes. Although the color may fade a little, they are definitely cleaner and safer.

That's all folks, if you are interested to get one, head on to any major baby stores or you are sure to find it in Toy 'R Us too.



Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Fun Abacus Game with Cherios 小小算盘游戏

With 2 young toddlers, keeping them to sit still when having their breakfast seems like a mission impossible. Somehow my little girl always want to try her elder brother's portion and end up creating a mess or a frustrated baby.

So when I saw this idea while surfing, I though its worth a try, since all I need is some Wholemeal Cherios and Spaghetti.

It helps them to practice counting as well as work out the eye-hand coordination with small objects. It may seem easy to us adult, but its quite a challenge for the little fingers.

The elder brother was watching cartoon at first and finally couldn't resist to help up and eventually arranged all Cherios into each spaghetti sticks. :)

I quite like this game, it's simple, low cost and completely safe for little ones; just have to ensure you break the spaghetti sticks to shorter length.

Fun time can be simple and low cost.. Cheers!



Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Brush, Brush, Brush! 刷牙咯！

I started training Ethan to brush the teeth by himself when he was around 15 months old. He was able to stand steadily and had pretty good eye-hand coordination then. I didn't make record but I am certain he had at least 8 teeth by then.

Brush, Brush, Brush! by Alicia Padron.

I started brushing my little boy's tiny teeth when he was 8 months old - he had 4 teeth then. I bought this Pigeon set which have 3 steps toothbrushes within 1 packaging. I like the fact that it comes with a shield that can be attached to the toothbrush to prevent toddler from accidentally pushing the toothbrush too deep down the throat which may cause chocking or injury.

These tooth brush are useful to help soothe the gum discomfort caused by teething too. Just rub it softly against the teeth and gums.

I did not follow exactly the age indication showed on the packaging, but they were certainly useful and I managed to introduce brushing as part of my boy's bedtime routine without much resistance.

After he turned 3.5 years old, he had accepted that brushing before bed is a must and will go and brush his teeth without me asking. I couldn't stop feeling proud to see him being such an independent boy and hope he will grow up with bright white teeth.

Many mommies had complained of difficulties they faced when training the kiddos to brush their teeth, here are some of the techniques I deployed in cultivating brushing habit in my boy...

I started by teaching Ethan to brush with empty tooth brush and gargled with boiled water at room temperature. Once I'm confident that he will not swallow the toothpaste and the water (after gargle), only I applied toothpaste and continued to let him gargled using boiled water.

For gargling, I didn't buy any fancy cup, just used the small translucent cup that comes with my Yomeshu, he loves the mini cup and called it his cup. You may consider the measurement cup that comes with some cough mixtures too :) Remember to give your little one a personal face tower to avoid him from wetting his shirt when spitting out.

Let him stand on a stool so he is tall enough to see his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. At first I let him watch me brush his teeth, subsequently I let him do it himself, from squeezing tooth paste to brushing, gargling and wiping clean. Most little boy at the age of 2 would want to proof that he is a big boy capable of managing himself. So, make good use of this growing ego :)

We always brush teeth together so he felt that it's a norm that all adults brush teeth before bedtime. remember kiddo always likes to imitate what the parents do, so make use of that.

Read him books about bedtime, brushing teeth.. Explain to him why he should brush his teeth and consequences of not doing so (teeth turn black, fall off and he will become baby without any tooth..) He was so motivated to brush his teeth after understanding the consequence :)

These are some of the books I read to him...

Brush, Brush, Brush, by Scholastic. This book actually comes with a bedtime story at reversed print, little Ethan was very captivated by that.

The Things I Love About Bedtime, by Trace Moroney. This is a very interesting book with beautiful illustration to encourage a good bedtime habit.

I grew up with really ugly teeth when I was in primary school, my childhood photos always remind me of that "ugly past". I certainly hope that having cultivated this habit in my boy, he will not face the terrible toothache pain and horrifying dentist visit like I had before..

My little boy happily brushing his teeth



One last note. If you are concerned that your little one may have swallowed the toothpaste, you may use Fluoride-free toothpaste designed for children and pregnant moms, available in most major pharmacies and baby stores.


Hope you find this article helpful. Happy brushing! :)



A Note on Safety

Never, I repeat, never, leave your little ones left unattended in the bathroom as simple things like razor, toilet seat, can post danger to little ones. Especially if he's standing on a stool there is a danger of losing balance.

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Lets Start Counting!

Apart from creativity and curiosity, which is attitude to life, there are 2 learning that I put emphasize on -- language and mathematics. These are the basic for learning greater things in life so I really think its important to build a strong foundation since young.

Whether you like it or not, mathematics is so important in our everyday life. From simple tasks like grocery shopping, ordering food, going places (taking bus or lift) to serious stuff like bank savings, financial investment, property purchases and even tax payment... its all about numbers, numbers, numbers. So, big guy and I had worked together in cultivating interest in numbers to Ethan when he was as young as 8 months old.

Ethan, just turned 3 yo, playing with simple math cards

Here are the different tools and techniques we used along the way. Some are ready purchased, some DIY. Choose whichever methods that work for your little ones, but what most important is always make learning fun & interactive. I strongly believe these are the keys to cultivate a kid who enjoys learning.


Start with the Basic - Counting with Abacus
We got this abacus from IKEA to teach simple counting from 1-10. Baby Claire loved to play with the colorful beads, she turned the beads around and laughed about it. I let her be but at the same time, will count the bead one by one as she watched on.

For her elder brother, we used this to teach the concept of addition, e.g. 1 bead + 1 bead = 2. 10 beads + 10 beads = 20 and etc

Baby Claire having fun with the abacus

Basic Counting with Dots
I got these dots cards from Popular book store and flashed them to baby every day, starting from 1-5, 5-9 then slowly increase to 20, 30 etc.


For Beginner Learning: Addition and Subtraction with Pictorial Cards
When Ethan was 2.5 yo, I used this pictorial mathematics cards set to teach him the basic of addition and subtraction. Began with smaller numbers 1-5, I gradually increased to 6-10. He excelled in this after few times of teaching and most of the time he just played by himself. At time he even tried teaching me and he told me this one day, "Mommy, this is too difficult for you. Let me show you how to do this.". *eyes rolling*

Match It! Math cards from Toy 'R Us

For Advanced Learning: Addition and Subtraction with Numbers
After Ethan had grasped the basic of addition, daddy prepared these DIY cards to teach him simple addition from under 5, to under 10, then eventually moved on to bigger numbers. We taught him to use fingers for counting too.

DIY Math Cards by daddy

Interactive Learning Through Singing
Apart from the above tools, counting can be candid and as simple as using fingers, candies, finger puppets or whatever items you have with you. In fact, if you are staying in a double story house, the best time to practice counting is when going up and down the staircase. That was how Ethan learnt 1-20 as our staircase have exactly 20 steps. :)

Below are some nursery rhymes that are perfect to teach numbers:

"1 little, 2 little, 3 little fingers,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little fingers,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little fingers,
10 little small fingers"
modified from the 10 little Indian songs.


"1,2,3,4,5,
Once I caught a fish alive,
6,7,8,9,10,
Then I let it go again."


For Mandarin
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
我的朋友在哪里?
在这里，在这里，
我的朋友在这里"


把"朋友"换去小宝贝的名字,他一定会很开心很投入. :)


The Benefit of Doing All These?
When I first started flashing the number cards to Ethan, he was around 10 months old and apart from staring at those cards or trying to grab them from me, I couldn't tell how much he understood. I persisted regardless and he understood the numbers after turning 1 although he was not able spelled them yet.

At 18 months old,  we took Ethan for a road trip and as we were on our way home, he suddenly lifted his little fingers and started counting 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10! He counted them soft and steady, although his "seven" sounded more like "swen" and his "five" sounded like "fie", Big Guy and I were so astonished beyond words. Ethan was obviously  feeling so pleased with himself that he repeated counting for a few times. Since that day onward, he just started saying those numbers without any problem.

At around 2.5 years old, while waiting for our lunch to be served at a restaurant, I gave Ethan a piece of blank paper to doodle, with some crayola pens. He suddenly wrote the number 1 - 10 and showed it to me with a shy smile. Again, he took us by surprise. His handwriting wasn't great and not all strokes are correct, but considering he wrote this on his own effort without any prior training (his preschool had not started him on writing skill yet and neither did I), I was really glad that he shown the initiative to learn and try new things on his own.

Ethan's first effort of writing numbers at 2.5 yo

So, for parents who are reading this, please don't give up on your kiddos if they are not showing you the response you wanted. Our little ones are like sponge absorbing whatever we teach them, make sure you teach them the right things and give them time to proof to you when they are ready. :)



What Next?
Keep repeating the above activities every now and then to reinforce the learning. Once we have figured out how to teach him multiplications and division, I shall update with a new post... If i can find the time.

Happy counting! ;)


Note to Parents and Caretakers
This sharing is purely from our own research and available resources at hands, neither of us are child education experts. So please read this as a sharing and you shall choose to adopt whichever methods that best suit your little ones. Besides, please remember that every child's development is different, so do not compare your little ones with others, everyone is unique in their own way and as parents, we love our kiddos for being who they are, not what they are capable of.


Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos  within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Matching Cards Game 育智游戏：找相同

When my little Captain was around 16 month old, I introduced matching pictorial cards game to him. Each day, I spent about 10 minutes doing flashcards, card games, logic games etc with him after work, followed by bedtime story. Although tired, I enjoyed the quality time spent with my little boy.

Ethan matching the shape cards by himself while mommy watched on..

About 8 weeks later, my little Captain, then 18 months old, finally grasped the logic of the matching card game and able to correctly find the pair of matching cards when I randomly laid out 3 pairs of cards in front of him. Everyone at home were so amazed by him, little did they knew that this came from constant coaching. :)

Beginner Level
Hold the stack of pictorial cards in hand, show 1 by 1 to your little one while reading the object in the card. Repeat 5 cards at a time. This will help LO to remember the object's names.

This is suitable for baby between 8 mo to 1.5 yo.

intermediate Level
Randomly lay out 3 pairs of cards in front of LO, pick up 2 matching cards and tell LO "These are the same!". Read out loud the object name and encourage LO to help you find the matching card.

You may introduce this game to LO around 1.5yo to 2.5yo. Easy as it may seen, it takes some time and effort to train LO to understand and follow instructions.

You can pick cards of similar types in nature, e.g. all red colors, all vehicles, all toys, all food etc, to teach LO the concept of same category, and eventually spot the difference.

Depending on the LO's readiness, it may takes sometimes for your LO to understand what you wanted him/her to achieve, so it is important to encourage and praise LO for successfully finding a match. Clapping, praising openly is an effective way of let LO know he/she has done a good work. Gradually increase to 5 cards and rotate different card sets when LO understand the logic of the game. I played up to 20 pairs of card with Ethan when he was 2+ years old and he was really proud of himself with each "mission completion".

Advanced Level
At 3 years old, my little boy was getting so fluent with matching card game, I decided to upgrade the game to a different level - have all the cards faced downwards, each of us take turn to flip over 2 cards at a time; if the cards match, both are yours to keep; otherwise, close the cards (return to the same spot) and continue finding next matching pair. Whoever with most matching cards in hand, wins. Started from 3 pairs of cards, I gradually upgraded him to 12 pairs of cards and more.

So, what's the purpose of playing these matching card games?

1. Understand the logic of matching, or finding the same.
2. Train LO's ability to observe and memorize.
3. Build confidence. Remember to continuously encourage and do not hesitate to praise for the effort. I firmly believe that a confident kid is a happy kid.

If you have read till this far, thanks for reading and hope you find this useful!

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos  within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.